How to install an engineered floating floor

Running the planks parallel with the longest wall usually looks best. Chances are you'll need to rip, or trim lengthwise, the last course to fit. But if the last course is narrower, rip the first course down to ensure the last course will have a pleasing width. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. How to Install a Floating Floor. By Joseph Truini. Pinterest Email Pocket Flipboard. How to Install Floating Floor 1. Trim the door casings Photo by Kolin Smith Use a flush-cut dovetail saw to trim the bottom of the casing at all doorways so that the flooring will slide underneath. Gauge the height of the cut by laying down a piece of foam underlayment and a piece of flooring upside down so the saw won't scratch the finish.

Then hold the saw flat against the plank and carefully make the cut. Install the foam underlayment Photo by Kolin Smith Vacuum the room, then unroll the foam underlayment. Cover the entire room with a single layer, trimming it to fit with a utility knife and butting the seams together. Seal the seams with duct tape. Install the first course Photo by Kolin Smith Lay down the first plank with its grooved end in the corner against a spacer block.

Also place spacers along the starting wall. As you set the flooring, always keep the tongues facing out and cut ends against a wall. To fill in the pieces in the first course, place a spacer against the wall, and measure from it to the last plank installed.

Mark this measurement on a new plank, starting at the grooved end so it will mate with the tongue of the last plank. Cut the plank to length. Apply glue to the end groove of the new piece, and install. Slip a pry bar between the end of the plank and the spacer and lever the joint together. Then push the piece down in place. Remove excess glue with a damp cloth. Install the rest of the flooring Photo by Kolin Smith Start each course with the piece of flooring left over from the previous cut cut end to the wall , as long as it is more than 8 inches in length.

This will keep the joints staggered. Remember to place spacers against side walls before you put down a plank. Squeeze glue into the groove of the plank in one continuous bead, then slide it up against the previous row. Set a wood block against the outside of the plank, and tap it with a hammer to bring the planks tightly together.

Measure from the plank to the end of the row and finish the course as detailed in Step 3. Continue installing planks in this manner, one course at a time. Every four to six courses, use blue painter's tape to keep the joints tight while the glue cures. Measure for the last course Photo by Kolin Smith When you reach the final course, measure the width needed for the last plank.

Again, measure to a spacer placed against the wall, to account for the expansion gap. A plank that runs across a door will have to be notched to fit inside the doorway.

To determine its width, measure to the closer edge of the doorstop molding. Rip the plank to width Photo by Kolin Smith Use a jigsaw to rip the plank to width and to cut the doorway notches, above center. Snap the two tongue-and-groove pieces of flooring together. Place the flat edge of a kick tool or wood block against the end of the second piece and hit the kicker with a hammer. Continue this process on the floor along the wall.

If you have one, a dead-blow hammer will remove the need for a kick tool or wood block to serve as padding. Dead-blow hammers minimize the damage to the wood. Cut the last piece in the row so it will fit, leaving a small buffer between it and any walls for expansion or contraction. Cut the flooring with a jigsaw or circular saw as needed. If you're having trouble fitting the end piece into the floor because of the wall, you might need to remove the second-to-last piece and lay down the final piece of flooring first.

Once the end piece is in position, tight against the wall, fit the second-to-last piece back in and attach the tongue to the groove. Place the next row, but stagger the joints so that they overlap. Cut the first piece of flooring of your next row so that the end-joints don't fall along the same plane. This will strengthen the durability of the floor as well as add a pleasant aesthetic component. Use the kick tool, block, or dead-blow hammer on the side of the plank to connect the rows together.

Continue staggering each new row until you've covered the room with the square-edge flooring. Shoot for every other row to be placed along the same plane to give the arrangement a uniform look.

When finished, be sure to remove the spacers from the edges of the walls. Cover up the free space between the baseboard and the floating floor by installing shoe molding along the entire perimeter of the wall. When you do, be sure to nail the shoe molding to the baseboard and not to the flooring to prevent cracking when the floor expands. Part 3.

Cut down casings when your flooring doesn't fit underneath it. If you're trying to install flooring around doors for example, you might find that the floating floor doesn't quite fit beneath the casing. Trim these door casings with a flush-cut dovetail saw if the flooring doesn't fit underneath the casings.

To do this, hold the saw flat against a scrap piece of flooring to use as a guide, and press the saw into the casing, gently make the cut. Slide the flooring underneath to make sure that it fits. Scribe around tricky corners or angles. Scribing is a really useful skill to have in your toolkit.

It will allow you to make accurate cuts using a compass as a guide. Use a pull bar to help join together tongue and grooves of end pieces.

Usually, you can fasted one piece of flooring to its vertical cousin by tapping on the bottom of the end piece. But what if the end piece butts up against a wall, and you don't have the space to tap the tongue and groove together? For this you use a tool called a pull bar, which is a long strip of metal with a tongue on either end going in opposite directions. Just fit the pull bar down into the seam between the end piece and the wall, and then tap on the upward-sticking tongue of the bar to connect the tongue and groove.

Yes, if the subfloor is strong enough. If the subfloor is plywood, such as on a first floor with a basement or a second floor, placing a heavy load will cause it to sag over time if not reinforced.

Concrete as a subfloor is a better option if you plan to have something really heavy sitting on that floor. In most cases, though, a floating floor shouldn't have a problem sustaining normal amounts of weight.

Not Helpful 1 Helpful Would it be best to pull up two layers of old vinyl and lay new floating boards on the concrete below, or just lay it over the old vinyl? Miranda Duggan. Either lay it over both layers, or pull one up first.

The remaining layer s will serve as insulation. Make sure the floor is completely clean before laying the new flooring. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 6. It shouldn't take too long, but the total time will depend mainly on the size of the room you are doing. Generally, after preparation, a decent carpenter could lay out a large living room in about five hours, but it may take some amateurs up to the entire day.

Not Helpful 1 Helpful 7. You can if you use vinyl planks, but not wood or laminate; they should not get wet. Not Helpful 3 Helpful 6. When you install a floating floor throughout the whole house, do you leave the spacers in until you are entirely done, or do you remove them when each room is done? Ignore the instructions the flooring came with and leave them in all the time.

Hopefully they are thin enough to put the base boards right over. A couple of years ago we bought the expensive kind of laminate hardwood flooring Bruce.

We removed the shims for expansion and shrinking just like the instructions said. With use the floor comes apart--unlocks. Unless you live in a place with drastic humidity changes, leave those suckers in. Not Helpful 46 Helpful Can I lay a floating floor over a carpet with the addition of an insulating sheet? I highly suggest not laying over carpet. The floor will move too much and could pull apart at the joints. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 5. Will the people on the floor below me hear when I walk on floating floorboards?

Floating is relative to lateral floor movement, not vertical. The floor compresses on the underlayment. It doesn't defy gravity and float. An appropriate underlayment may minimize noise. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 1. Yes, if you use a product that has attached underlayment. LV-luxury vinyl planks, such as Coretec, Smartcore, Nucore are options. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 1. Should I remove the old tile before I float my flooring?

You should check your local regulations regarding the removal and disposal of asbestos. You may need to have a specialist do this. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0. Check that there is sufficient expansion space all round the edges. If it butts up to a wall, temperature and humidity will cause expansion, which in turn may cause lifting. If it's worse in the colder months than in a dry summer, this is probably the case.

If found so, trimming 5 mm off the offending edge using an electric dovetail-blade reciprocating saw might solve it. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 2. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. Use a piece of foam and planking as a measurement guide when trimming door casings. Helpful 10 Not Helpful 7. Be sure to cut the right end of the planking. The grooved pieces that snap together go 1 way. Laying the piece on the ground first and then marking it with a pencil will ensure you cut the correct end.

Helpful 8 Not Helpful 7. A good rule of thumb is to buy 5 percent more than the square footage the packaging for the wood dictated. Helpful 7 Not Helpful 7. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. You Might Also Like How to. How to.